Jolie Leaves Vietnam With Adopted Son

The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; 6:05 AM

HANOI, Vietnam -- Angelina Jolie and her newly adopted 3-year-old son left Vietnam in a private jet on Wednesday, en route to the boy's new home in the United States.

The superstar adopted Pax Thien Jolie in Ho Chi Minh City last week, but they later came to the capital city of Hanoi to pick up a visa allowing him to enter the United States.


American and Vietnamese guards block photographers while they secure one of the cars reportedly carrying American actress Angelina Jolie as she goes out the U.S. embassy annex in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday March 20, 2007. Jolie is in Hanoi to complete some documents for his newly adopted 3-year-old Vietnamese boy, Pax Thien Jolie. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
American and Vietnamese guards block photographers while they secure one of the cars reportedly carrying American actress Angelina Jolie as she goes out the U.S. embassy annex in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday March 20, 2007. Jolie is in Hanoi to complete some documents for his newly adopted 3-year-old Vietnamese boy, Pax Thien Jolie. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) (Aaron Favila - AP)

Jolie left a pack of disappointed paparazzi in her wake, fleeing from them before boarding the awaiting Gulfstream jet at Noi Bai Airport.

During her week in Vietnam, Jolie spent her time cooped up in luxury hotels, shielding Pax from the photographers that trailed them everywhere.

On the few occasions they came out to do adoption paperwork, they traveled in cars with darkened windows and only emerged after parking in basement garages that were sealed off from the media horde.

Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, made a surprise trip to Vietnam last November, when they visited the Tam Binh orphanage on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. Pax had been living at the orphanage since he was abandoned as an infant.

Jolie filed adoption papers as a single parent because she and Pitt are not married.

They have three other children: 5-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia, 2-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia, and another daughter, Shiloh, born to the couple last year.


© 2007 The Associated Press